Predict why the refractive index of air is slightly higher than the refractive index of a vacuum?

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Predict why the refractive index of air is slightly higher than the refractive index of a vacuum?

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Answer 1 · 2017-04-07T08:56:59

The refractive index of a medium is defined as $n = \frac{c}{v}$ $n=c/v$ , where $c$ $c$ is the speed of light in a vacuum and $v$ $v$ is the apparent velocity of light traveling through that medium.

The refractive index of a vacuum is $\frac{c}{c} = 1$ $c/c=1$ .

Since light seems to travel slower in air (but not by much since air is not as optically dense), the refractive index will be greater $\frac{c}{v} > 1$ $c/v>1$ since $0 < v < c$ $0< v< c$ .

Note that light does not actually slow down when traveling through a medium. Its actual speed is still $c$ $c$ . Read more about this here on Wikipedia.

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Predict why the refractive index of air is slightly higher than the refractive index of a vacuum?

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